Windsor Star » Vaios (Zorba) KoukousoulasWindsor Starhttp://blogs.windsorstar.com
Windsor StarTue, 03 Mar 2015 22:40:24 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/58154357a21f0ee0c154f325e88e221c?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png » Vaios (Zorba) KoukousoulasWindsor Starhttp://blogs.windsorstar.com
Pair found guilty in double murderhttp://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/guilty-verdict-in-double-murder-trial
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/guilty-verdict-in-double-murder-trial#commentsSun, 19 Feb 2012 08:14:24 +0000http://blogs.windsorstar.com/?p=19343]]>After a two-month trial, it took Windsor jurors a day to decide Saturday that Donald Michael Dodd and Timothy James Carter are guilty of second-degree murder.
“They’re gone man. Both of them are gone for second-degree,” yelled a woman outside the Superior Court of Justice courthouse after the verdict came down at about 8:30 p.m. “How did the trial take so long and they were able to decide this fast?”
Dodd and Carter were both found guilty on two counts for the deaths of Vaios (Zorba) Koukousoulas, 63, and Panayotis (Peter) Kambas, 53.
The Crown had called more than 60 witnesses to prove that the two accused had beaten the victims to death in a garage in the 1600 block of Moy Avenue in June 2008. The garage was later burned down. The following December the bodies of the victims were found in a Colchester South field.
“We had faith in this jury all along and we’re very proud of all the hard work that they did. I think this jury was a smart, hard-working, good common sense jury,” said one of the assistant Crown attorneys in the trial, Jennifer Holmes. “They were always listening and were always very attentive and I just think that they used their intelligence and their collective common sense in coming to this conclusion which we believe was the proper conclusion.”
Defence lawyers for the accused did not present any witnesses during the trial.
“We looked back on it and we’ve talked to them and we would have done the trial the exact same way. So no regrets by not putting (Dodd) on the stand. We didn’t feel there was any need to,” said Dodd’s defence lawyer, Gord Cudmore. “We respect the jury’s opinion and what they found, but our argument is that he wasn’t there.”
Both Cudmore and Carter’s lawyer Colin Adams said they will look into an appeal of the convictions.
“I obviously don’t agree with the verdict but I respect the jury system and we’ll look at it and see where we go from here,” said Cudmore, who added he had expected his client, Dodd, to be acquitted.
Some friends and family of Carter were asked to leave the courtroom following several outbursts after the verdict was revealed.
A group of supporters for the accused had gathered outside the courthouse and were crying and screaming out profanities. They hugged and embraced each other as they bellowed out criticism.
“How is this possible? It was only circumstantial evidence,” one man yelled.
Witnesses testified that the victims and accused had drug-related ties and both victims had exchanged money for drugs with Carter at his residence.
Carter and Dodd were initially charged with second-degree murder of Kambas and first-degree murder of Koukousoulas, but Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance said the case for first-degree murder had not been proven. Therefore, the jury had been given the choice of finding one or both of the accused guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter or not guilty.
Pomerance said in court Friday that a person may still be convicted on circumstantial evidence but that the jury had to agree on its decision beyond a reasonable doubt.
A sentencing date will be scheduled March 9. Holmes said she and the other assistant Crown on the case, Roger Dietrich, must discuss what sort of sentencing they will seek.

]]>http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/guilty-verdict-in-double-murder-trial/feed0Two females are photographed leaving the Superior Court of Justice after hearing the verdict of Timothy Carter and Donald Dodd who were both found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of Vaios (Zorba) Koukousoulas, 63, and Panayotis (Peter) Kambas, 53 late Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. The two females met up with a group of people outside the courtroom who were crying and yelling out profanities, saying they disagreed with the verdict.winstarwrightWitness hears possible death strugglehttp://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/witness-hears-possible-death-struggle
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/witness-hears-possible-death-struggle#commentsWed, 01 Feb 2012 21:04:24 +0000http://blogs.windsorstar.com/?p=17359]]>Manny Periera heard a struggle involving his friend Peter Kambas on the morning of June 29, 2008. He just didn’t realize at the time it may have been his friend being killed.

The jury in the double murder trial of Donald Michael Dodd and Timothy James Carter — charged with second degree murder of Panayotis (Peter) Kambas, 53, and first-degree murder of Vaios (Zorba) Koukousoulas, 63 — on Wednesday watched a video-taped police statement by Periera, who was not in court.

Periera told police on the tape that on the night in question he was at a bar on Ottawa Street where Kambas’s girfriend, Charleigh McConnell, worked.

After closing time he walked home. Perhaps 10 minutes later, McConnell knocked on his door. She wanted him to come with her to check on Kambas, since she was worried he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. McConnell earlier testified that she went to the address where Kambas said he would wait to be picked up but that she was told he wasn’t there.

McConnell didn’t want to go back to the front door, so she and Periera walked down an alley in the 1600 block of Moy. Periera said they heard a commotion as they neared a garage.

“I heard Pete Kambas saying, ‘What the f—? What the f—?'” Periera told police. “Clearly there was a struggle.

“One guy was saying, ‘Hold him! Hold him!’ Real loud.”

He said he looked in through a hole in the wall but could not see anybody in the brightly lit garage, though he could hear voices and grunts.

“We were hearing… a very violent struggle,” Periera said.

Periera said he didn’t call 911 because he wasn’t sure who was doing what to whom.

“I had heard in the past week that Peter had gotten invloved in some drug situation,” said Periera, noting that he had also heard that Kambas might want to rough somebody else up.

“You can’t fathom that he’s the one being killed,” Periera said.

Periera said he and McConnell were scared so they left. They returned later, though this time they found the back of the garage covered with plywood.

“In under 30 minutes,” Periera told Windsor Det. Wayne Parsons, “they had boarded up the entire back. I mean top to bottom.

“That’s a feat in itself, I would imagine, at that time in the morning. That put panic into us.”

Parsons testified Tuesday that phone records show several calls went back and forth between the victims Kambras and Koukousoulas and the accused Carter and Dodd the night of June 28 and morning of June 29, 2008. No phone calls occurred between the four of them for more than 20 minutes. Parsons said records then show communication between Carter and Dodd.